In defense of aptaisia

[Lbrdsoxfan]

F-Aiptasia is different than all of them. It doesn’t use chemicals to kill. It just covers the Aiptasia just like if you were covering something with putty, but easier and better.

All of the other products you mentioned work in a different way.

Fair enough. Similar issues as using any of the issues I listed, the moment you attempt to cover the disc, it gets irritated and releases spores. YMMV on long time effectiveness.

I never bothered with f aiptasia personally, I keep a bit of gel glue instead. Didnt have luck with that either. After a few attempts (thinking it worked) it still spread anyway.

In the end only biological methods seem to work long term, imo.

 

[Reefahholic]

Fair enough. Similar issues as using any of the issues I listed, the moment you attempt to cover the disc, it gets irritated and releases spores. YMMV on long time effectiveness.

I never bothered with f aiptasia personally, I keep a bit of gel glue instead. Didnt have luck with that either. After a few attempts (thinking it worked) it still spread anyway.

In the end only biological methods seem to work long term, imo.

I had luck with it. I only had a few, but if you cover them completely it really dose work well. It just has to be completely with no holes to where they can see any light or they will just crawl right out. I agree, most methods seem to just make them spread. Not sure if they divide or how they multiply. I just keep them out from the beginning.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

When I get few….I instantly go after them. If you slack, they will overrun your system if you don’t get predators in there. I don’t have any in this system at all.

Best thing is to cover them with Franks immediately.

When I first started in 2006 or ‘07 I bought cultured live rock when that was a thing… I think I saw one, injected it with lemon juice and never saw one again. Fast forward, next time I got rock, it was clean, got one coral with an aptasia on a leather base so I just cut it the whole area and never saw one again and that was like 2016, so I’ve been running the same rock since without ever seeing one. I think that and really limiting what plugs and hard corals come in my system.

 

[steveschuerger]

I’ve got one large one that I’ve given up on trying to kill. Every time I think I got it , I swear it deus ex machinas me and pops up somewhere else. So far it’s not bothering anything so at least a temporary truce.

 

[exnisstech]

Well I just found a big beautiful aiptasia in the sump of my SPS tank. I've never seen a sign of any in the DT so I'm assuming I have a copper band that does eat them. I thought he did because the last tank I had him in had an bunch of them in the overflow but never a single one in the DT. Guess I got lucky. I had another copper band that passed and really think it would have starved to death before it would touch aiptasia.

 

[carbasaurus]

Don’t overfeed your CBB. They will work when they’re hungry.

I have read that frequently regarding limited feeds. I currently have 9 damsels (7 azures and 2 springers), 2 rabbitfish (fox face and scribbled), 2 tangs (kole and yellow), 3 wrasses (vroliks and 2 tamarins), 4 angels (wantanabe, multibar, venustus, and regal), 2 clowns (saddlebacks) and 2 butterflyfish (Klein and copperband) in the tank (which is sps dominant). If I start cutting back on food that’s a lot of “hangry” fish. I shudder to think of the collateral damage that might ensue. I think fat and happy fish is the safer overall strategy. The vroliks is old and once he goes to fish heaven I will probably try a mass invasion of peppermints

 

[mikey1958]

You need to right species of peps. The ones in the Gulf of Mexico will obliterate Aiptasia.

Mine eat aptasia, my feather dusters and tube worms..when he ate my 3 biggest feather dusters he went into exile

 

[Michael Adam]

I tried butterfly, file fish, and peppermint shrimp. Then I made sure I got the right peppermint shrimp and I don't see very many any more. Lysmata boggessi

 

[mmopic]

I guess I got lucky because my CopperBand has kept my tank clear of any Aiptasia. I had been battling them for years. I tried everything and they just keep multiplying. It's been around a year that I have had him and the only Aiptasia I get now is in my overflow.

Are copper band reef safe?

 

[Reefahholic]

When I first started in 2006 or ‘07 I bought cultured live rock when that was a thing… I think I saw one, injected it with lemon juice and never saw one again. Fast forward, next time I got rock, it was clean, got one coral with an aptasia on a leather base so I just cut it the whole area and never saw one again and that was like 2016, so I’ve been running the same rock since without ever seeing one. I think that and really limiting what plugs and hard corals come in my system.

I cut the base off of every acro, and of course the plugs. So they never get in. Keeps the majority of pests out. I’ve seen near microscopic wasps aiptasia on plugs or on dead coral tissue. That’s how they get in or from live rock or anything that doesn’t have live tissue like LPS skeletons, macro algae, etc.

 

[Reefahholic]

I tried butterfly, file fish, and peppermint shrimp. Then I made sure I got the right peppermint shrimp and I don't see very many any more. Lysmata boggessi

I live 20 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico…

Trust me…the peps here will try to eat you if you fell into the system. Haha.

Go to 5:14….this is them. They don’t look like much, but they don’t play. The Molly Miller Blenny’s in there eat them. They ate all my Xenia too. lol

 

[drblank1]

I think a few of the best are:

Franks F-Aiptasia
Copperband Butterfly
Berghia
Peppermint shrimp from FL or TX

All 4 100% work.

I added a CBB about a month ago and he doesn't eat aptasia in big quantities yet. Seems to pick at other stuff in the rockwork. I'm hoping his appetite increases soon for aptasia. In the meantime, I'm using aptasia x once a week to keep the aptasia from overrunning my tank. I added 4 peppermint shrimp to the tank and they slowly disappeared. Not sure what happened to them. While I had them (about a month) I didn't see any improvement in the aptasia population.

 

[Reefahholic]

I added a CBB about a month ago and he doesn't eat aptasia in big quantities yet. Seems to pick at other stuff in the rockwork. I'm hoping his appetite increases soon for aptasia. In the meantime, I'm using aptasia x once a week to keep the aptasia from overrunning my tank. I added 4 peppermint shrimp to the tank and they slowly disappeared. Not sure what happened to them. While I had them (about a month) I didn't see any improvement in the aptasia population.

 

[Reefahholic]

Peppermint’s are Beasts! Especially the ones in the Gulf of Mexico. The ones I had nearly ate ME. lol

 

[exnisstech]

I decided to start feeding the aiptasia in the sump. It likes pellets. I will try something else next week. This was yesterday eve and I can still see some food inside of it this eve. It's pretty interesting, to me at least.